Of all the marriage vows, “til death us do part” is perhaps the most famous, and the most frequently ignored. But for a congregation at a Methodist church in late-1970s Texas, there aren’t many parts of the wedding ceremony that will survive intramural desecration. This is the backdrop to Love & Death, a lavish HBO true crime series, now making its way to ITV to show that America’s famous Bible Belt gets loosened sometimes…
Elizabeth Olsen is Candy Montgomery, a well-coiffed stay-at-home mom in Carter-era America. She puts beef through the mincer to make hamburger patties, sings alto next to her husband in the church choir, and forces a comb through the unruly hair of her unruly children. In short, she’s a bored housewife. “If you ain’t searching,” she tells her friend Sherry (Krysten Ritter), “you’re lost.” And Candy is lost; a disorientation that leads her into the arms of her friend, and fellow churchgoer, Allan Gore (Jesse Plemons). Candy is the congregational Queen Bee and Allan a slightly lumpen goofball, but somehow the affair ignites. “It’s nice to be noticed,” she confesses, “to be adored a little.”
